Day 355 - Spellbound

 SPELLBOUND

Prompt - Spellbound : Write about a witch's spell

I'd known Susie and Derek for nearly thirty years.  Susie was one of my oldest friends.  Derek was... Susie's husband.  Allegedly.  As the years went by I saw less and less of him, and more and more of her.  They were a couple, of a sort, but lived increasingly separate lives.  I felt sorry for her.

Which is why when I saw Derek in Next I wondered who the hell he was with.  He 

was shuttling between the dress racks and the changing rooms, picking an item off the rack, handing it to the shop assistant at the sanctum door, then solemnly standing and checking his phone until he suddenly jerked into alertness and went off to seek and return the next item of clothing.  I saw him take over five different dresses in this manner, and decided to wait and see who would emerge from inside with possible purchases.

It was Susie.  She came out with two dresses in hand, passed them to an eager looking Derek, and he headed off to the tills to make the purchase, while his wife went back to browsing.  This was... unexpected.  Confusing.  And very much something to be investigated.  I approached from behind.

"Oh, hi Suse, good to see you.  Looking for something special, or just having a shufti?"

"Joan, hello, good to see you too.  Just getting a few things for my weekend away.  We're off to Glasgow to spend a couple of days with my sister."

"We?"  

Susie grinned.  "Me and Derek."  She waited for my reaction.

"I thought Derek hated Carol and never wanted to see her again?  He wasn't all that keen on Alistair either if I remember right."

"Ah, that was the old Derek.  You haven't met the new, improved model.  Ah, here he comes now.  Let me introduce you."  She was enjoying herself.  Derek approached, bag in hand, and headed straight for his wife like a puppy seeking a dog treat.  

"Do you want me to hold on to these, or should I put them in the car then come back in case there's anything else you need?"  I searched for at least an undercurrent of sarcasm, but all I was getting was a very flat sincerity.

"Put them in the car for me dear, then come back.  There may be more I want you to buy."

"OK dear."  He was almost gone, but Susie called him back.

"Derek.  You remember Joan, don't you?"

"Of course.  delighted to see you Joan.  I hope you're keeping well, and give my regards to Ronnie.  Excuse me, I just need to put these safely in the car."  And he was gone, leaving me open mouthed, wordless.  I turned to the grinning, almost purring Susie.  

"What do you think?"

"He's... changed ... not at all ... totally... what...?"  I didn't know where to begin.  How could such a miraculous transformation occur?

"Amazing, isn't it?  And, well, it's not perfect, but it's so much better than it was.  And you want to know how it came about, don't you?"

"You have got me wondering."  Composure recovered, I opted for understatement.  

"Tell you what, I just want to get another top.  let me grab something, get Derek to buy it and I can send him home while we go to Costa.  Got some time to hear the story?"

Send??  "I think I can spare you an hour or so."  I might have exploded otherwise.  

Derek returned, then toddled off obediently, having bought a rather flashy gold top, and we went for our coffee.  And Susie told her tale.  There was a lot about what Derek had been like, how terrible he'd been to live with, most of which i already knew.  And she knew I knew.  But she was enjoying building the suspense, so I let her get on with it.  Things became more interesting when she brought up the subject of Gloria Beckwith.  I don't think I'm being unfair in saying that Gloria was well known as one of the local weirdos.  Every community needs them.  People who seem to be everywhere but never for any reason, always on their way to something indeterminate, but never in any hurry, and feeling free to shout anything in their head at passers by.  Gloria specialised in curses.  There were plenty ready to call her The Witch, but I didn't know if she was even aware of it.  Turned out she was, and not for the reasons you might think.

Susie had bumped into Gloria outside The Volunteer.  Literally, having stumbled herself she'd crashed into the unfortunate soul, knocking her over.  Profuse apologies followed, and a rash offer to take Gloria into the pub for a drink.

"Best thing I ever did in my life" she glowed.  Several G&Ts later they emerged, arm in arm, laughing like they'd been friends for life.  A plot had been hatched.

Three days later Susie engineered for Derek to meet Gloria, and have her life transmuted into gold.  But if I hadn't seen Derek for myself I wouldn't have believed a word of the tale.  Turned out Gloria was more than happy to be The Witch because she was a witch.  A real witch.  Who could, when the circumstances justified the effort, cast real witch spells.  She didn't do this very often, for it had a way of leading to trouble sometimes, so she admitted she wasn't as well practiced as she'd like to be, but when she heard about Susie's life she did think she'd be able to do something.  If Susie was willing to accept the risks she'd give it a go.  Since the risks mostly seemed to involve the possibility of some harm to Derek, Susie thought them more than justified.

Which is how Derek came to be under a spell that Gloria had concocted to make him a more malleable, obedient, husband.

"So is he always like that?  You know, how I just saw him?"

"Always.  Although Gloria can't guarantee how long it'll last for and what will happen to him when it starts to decrease in power."

"And you're happy with him like that?"  I was trying to imagine Ronnie as a blindly obedient automaton, and wasn't happy with the images it brought up.  We thrived on a bit of conflict.

"Look, I know it's not perfect.  And I don't think I'd want him that way for ever.  But it's still an improvement, eh?  And I might as well enjoy it while I can.  Plus it's totally put him off sex, so there's that bonus too."  I could see that not having to have the globular Derek on top would be an incentive.

"As long as you feel you know what you're doing.  And can cope when he returns to.. whatever.  He might even be worse."

"Or maybe he'll be better.  Gloria thinks some of it will stick.  I'll take my chances.  And I'll have a great wardrobe by then."

There was little more to be said, and we parted still friends, but with me expressing some concerns for her future.  All the same, when she offered me Gloria's number, I did wonder.  What would I ask her to change about Ronnie?  But what would be the point.  He could be a pain in the arse.  But he was my pain in the arse.  I didn't want witchcraft to change that.